136: The Wrath of God

New Covenant reality:

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! (Romans 5:9-10, The Message)¹

Old Covenant reality:

At the foot of Mount Sinai when God’s people said “Everything the Lord has commanded, we will do,” it was a declaration that they believed they could do the impossible: be like God… independent of Him. They chose to relate to God based on their own faithfulness instead of the faithfulness of God.

After the law was given, everything changed…

Moses went up the mountain to receive the two tablets of stone on which God etched the Ten Commandments. When God gave him the tablets, He said this to Moses:

“Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32:7-10)²

Hmmmm… this is a little different than “come near” in Exodus 16, and “I brought you to Myself” in Exodus 19. Can you see that being under the law and breaking the first commandment completely changed everything? The first commandment was

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

In Egypt they had worshipped other gods, but God never punished them for it.³ Yet, because of the change in covenants, He said He would consume them with the fire of His wrath because they disobeyed! Moses interceded on their behalf, but not based upon any promises to do better in the future and try their hardest to keep the commandments from then on. No, he pleaded with God to spare the people based on something else entirely: the very character of God to keep His covenant with Abraham.

“Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exodus 32:12-14)

God remembered His covenant with Abraham. That meant the nation of Israel lived to see another day. However, when Moses came down the mountain with the two tablets of stone, three thousand people still died. Because of the judgment from the law, blood was shed, and there was death. The letter kills.

Then Moses went back up to get the second set of stones. After the Law was given, we see in Numbers and Deuteronomy that time and time again when God’s people complained or broke laws, they died.

Paul said, “The law brings wrath.”⁴

However, he also said, “We have been delivered from the law.”⁵

(from pages 220-221 of Unveiling Jesus)

Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
²All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.  Used by permission.
³Joshua 24:14
⁴Romans 4:15
⁵Romans 7:6″